Shiny Pumpkins

[AD*]    Happy Halloween-eve! Halloween is one of my favourite holidays of the year (second only to Christmas) because I get to dress up, decorate my house, and also because it presents so many opportunities for nail art! 

This year I was asked by Naio Nails to create some Halloween nail art using their Urban Graffiti gel polishes, and I wanted to try and mix of matte and shiny with this pumpkin design. 

I've been wanting to try a matte gel top coat for ages so I made sure that was one of the polishes I chose for this collaboration, and I was like a kid marvelling when I saw that it doesn't go matte until you put it under the light. Science! (Or not science just magic who knows...). Anyway, read on to find out how I created these nails. 

Gelish - Make A Splash: Review + Swatches

Hey everyone! I had such a mare trying to get this post up. I managed to get my review done soon after I received them, and as I went to plug my memory card in, the whole thing wiped! I've no idea why. After a lot of panicking from me, and help from my boyfriend, I actually managed to receive the photos, hours before I was due to go on holiday. So I thought therefore I'd write the post on holiday, but then Blogger wouldn't work on my phone! 

We're finally here... so here is the gorgeous and fun Gelish Make A Splash Collection. I love how bright these gels are, the perfect summer shades! There's also a Cellophane Coat included with the collection, which is described as an 'iridescent overlay' and just adds a bit of shimmer, scroll down to have a look. 

Peach Daisies

Where has the sun gone?! It's back to being all rainy and miserable. I'm flying to Berlin tomorrow and the weather isn't looking much better there either! Anyway, enough weather chat, these nails are enough to brighten things up after all. I did these as a quick mani when I was struggling for ideas, and I wasn't 100% because they make me think of fried eggs a bit, but I like them enough to not hide them away in my deleted folder forever so I'll let you decide: eggs or flowers?

Essie Abstract Neon

Hey everyone! Long time no see, I've been so busy with moving I just haven't had a chance to post, but I've really missed blogging. We moved in on Friday and have managed to get everything unpacked already, so I finally have the chance to sit down and write a blog post. 

I actually did these nails quite a few weeks ago, using the Essie 2017 Neon Collection*. (I can't seem to find these online anymore so I assume they were limited edition). I keep seeing abstract nails on Instagram, and I've wanted to have a go for a while. These were super easy, I just splodged some colours using the brushes from the bottles, and then dotted some white using the end of a striping brush. Super quick, but I really love the end effect, and I wore these for a week or so. 

Pumpkin Spice - Meebox October Review + Nail Art

Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a good week so far, this is my first 5 day week at work in a few weeks so it's feeling like it's dragging a bit. Today I've got a review of the October Meebox* for you. This is my fourth review of the monthly subscription box, you can see all my previous reviews here. Each month comes with a new theme, and this months theme is Pumpkin Spice*, just in time for Halloween. Each months box costs £20 if you subscribe on a month to month basis, or you can subscribe for 3 months and it costs £18 a month. This might sound like a lot but you get so much value out of a box that it's well worth it. This months box includes:

- Crabtree & Evelyn - Clementine (RRP £6) 

- Lauren B - Nude 01 (RRP £11)

- Leighton Denny - Venus Desire (RRP £12)

- Bundle Monster Giant Stamper & Stamping plate (RRP £12)

With a total value of £41 you're definitely getting a lot for your money. I also like the surprise element of it, and also that there's always at least one nail art look to create out of the products you receive. And, even with an extensive collection such as mine I've only ever encountered one duplicate shade to one I own in a Meebox, which isn't too bad going. This month they were all pretty much new brands to me, except for Leighton Denny. I was also intrigued (and a little intimidated) by the giant stamper from Bundle Monster which I ended up loving once I got the hang of it. I know my stamping skills aren't the best and I don't claim for them to be, but I wanted to give the plate a try nonetheless.

Gelish Sweetheart Squadron Collection [Partial] Review + Swatches

Hey everyone! I've been getting used to being back at work after a nice relaxing week off work, so I'm feeling pretty exhausted today. Luckily I have a 4 day weekend coming up so I only have one more day of work before more relaxation! 

Today I have a couple of the shades from the new Gelish Sweetheart Squadron collection to show you. The whole collection is gorgeous but I have Looking For A Wingman* and Up In The Air-Heart*  reviewed for you today. It's such a great collection for autumn, and there's a shade for everyone in there. Full review after the jump.

Negative Space Stamping

Hey everyone! Can you believe it's already Wednesday? I've been to the cinema tonight to see Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, which by the way is hilarious but if you don't like inappropriate films it definitely wont be for you. They really don't hold back. But if you don't mind that kind of thing then I'd definitely recommend it because me and my friend were in stitches. I love a good cheesy comedies, and I'm a huge fan of Anna Kendrick so it was great for me. 

Today's nails are some that I created ages ago and I was so proud of them when I did them but before I took pictures I ruined the thumb bail and when I tried to fix it I didn't like how it came out second time around. Nevertheless, I still wanted to post the design, which I did when I was experimenting with stamping quite a lot. I seem to go through phases of experimenting with it and then going back to freehand and I'm in a freehand stage at the moment.

Paint All The Nails Presents Neon

Hey everyone! It's nearing the end of the month again, and that means it's time for another Paint All The Nails link up, and this month the theme is 'neon'. I wasn't actually going to join in this month because I don't own many neons at all and I didn't think I could create anything worthwhile. Just as I'd given up on the idea of participating, the new Models Own - Polish For Tans* collection dropped through my letterbox. I haven't received anything from Models Own for at least a year, if not two, so it was a nice surprise and also a strange coincidence. I felt like I had to create something using them for the prompt as it felt like fate, and so here I am! I used all 5 polishes from the collection for this nail art, and I'm still wearing them now. I'm not used to wearing something so bright so they keep catching me by surprise, but I ended up really liking them. 

Barry M - Lolly Gloss Collection Nail Art + Review

Hey everyone! Today I have a review of the brand new Barry M - Lolly Gloss collection*, but rather than swatches of the collection I'll be reviewing in the form of nail art. The collection consists of four limited edition translucent shades, scented in Raspberry and Strawberry. I was quite sceptical about them being scented because normally the smell of nail varnish is just too overpowering in scented polish but these really do smell fruity, I could still smell it after topcoat and a couple of hours later too. They also dry very glossy as the name would suggest. The polishes can be worn alone or together, so I decided to put them together in this marble/red tortoise shell look.  Read more after the jump.

All That Jazz - The Proposal Collection Review + Swatches

Today I have a review of the All That Jazz -The Proposal Collection*. You will have seen me use their base coat throughout my manicures as it's one of my favourites, so although All That Jazz isn't that new to my blog, this is the first time I've done a full length review of the products. For those of you who aren't aware, All That Jazz is a sister company of the UK base of Gelish: Nail Harmony UK. It's named after Jazz Smedley, the daughter of Nail Harmony UK bosses Georgie and Jason Smedley, and her face often features on the promotional images for the products. All of these polishes are matches to actual Gelish colours, which is great for those untrained in gel/those who can't afford gel. Jazz is soon to be married, so I believe this collection is inspired by her engagement. The collection consists of two cremes, and two glitter toppers, each which match the respective creme. I love how this collection works so well together, and I was really impressed with the quality of them too. Read after the jump for my full review.

Cute Halloween Witch

Happy Halloween!! Hope you're all having a fun day, I've had an entire day trying to find a last minute outfit but I've had zero luck. Which will teach me to leave it until the last second. I'm ending up just wearing devil horns, even though I actually tried to make an effort this year, which is frustrating. Anyway, at least I can be a bit more Halloween-y with my nails. This year I went with these cute witch nails inspired by these nails by Laura Merino, which I've had saved in my 'inspiration' folder since last year. I really love how these turned out, I got a tonne of compliments on them, I think the colours made them stand out as Halloween nails.

Gradient Pumpkins for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! I must admit I'm a bit of a scrooge when it comes to celebrating holidays early, Christmas is from the start of december, and Halloween from a week before (two at the earliest). I love both holidays, but I don't want to ruin them by dragging them out too long. Not because I'm boring (at least I hope not!). This is why I'm so late in posting my first Halloween nail art. I actually created these weeks ago for Divine Caroline, but I took them off almost instantly after painting them because I didn't want people at work questioning why I had Halloween nails in September! I was quite sad to take them off though because I really did like the design. I was trying to go with a cross point between galaxy and halloween nail art and this is what I ended up with. I reckon these could probably stretch after Halloween and just be autumnal, but pumpkins will always make me think of Halloween. If you want to see the tutorial on how to create these, click here.

The base is OPI - Is Mai Tai Crooked? Then I used Barry M - Full Throttle and Cult Nails - Captivated for the gradient. The pumpkins are done using Essie - Fear and Desire, and the green is OPI - Don't Mess With OPI.      Remember to check out the full tutorial here.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

OPI Autumn/Winter 2015 Venice Collection Review and Swatches

Hey everyone! It's been absolutely ages since I posted a full review, so long that I'm actually a bit ashamed! It's just much more fun and less time consuming (believe it or not) to create nail art with collections instead of reviewing them individually. I only paint my nails on a Saturday at the moment so I need to prioritise any nail art commitments first. However, the OPI - Venice Collection* deserves to be showcased, and whilst it may have taken me three saturdays to complete the review, here it is. You've seen a few nail art designs using the colours already (like this, this, and this one) but they're just as beautiful as individual colours. I've also got a couple more nail designs coming up with them too. This is probably my favourite collection from OPI this year (as you can probably tell), and they've released quite a few. We all know I love a good pastel, but they manage to be both autumnal and pastel at the same time. 

Butterfly Sunset Gradient Tutorial for Divine Caroline

Hey everyone! Just a quick post from me today to direct you over to a tutorial I did for Divine Caroline. I tried gradients over a white base for the first time and it worked so much better, thats definitely (partly) where I've been going wrong. I really liked how these turned out. I wasn't sure whether I should have used pinker tones but I like the sunset look with the white silhouettes of the butterflies. If you want to create these for yourself (or switch up the colours) head over to my tutorial here.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

Tutorial: Summer Boho Nail Art for Barry M

Hey everyone! Today I have a step-by-step tutorial to show you. It's been such a long time since I posted one and the other day I was asked on Instagram whether I still post them and I decided it was time to start posting the tutorials I recently created for Barry M. I wasn't really sure where I was going with these I just decided to experiment and I ended up with this boho-ish design. I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not, but having not looked at it for a while I think I do!

I used the recent Speedy nail polish collection for these, plus Cotton* from the spring Gelly collection.. I never got around to posting my full review of them due to exams etc, which I still feel guilty about. But I'm doing my best to try and stay on top of reviews nowadays so I think you'll be seeing more in the future. However, these polishes really impressed me, they have a wide brush that Barry M hadn't used before spring this year and it really helps with application. They're super fast drying and there's quite a few colours across the two releases (spring, and summer) which means you've got plenty to choose from! They sell for £3.99 so if I were you I'd pop down to your local Boots/Superdrug and give them a go if you haven't already.

Nailbox - June: Review + Nail Art

Hey everyone! Today I have another Nailbox review for you. I showed you May's Nailbox here, and this is June's box. Each month subscribers are sent 5 nail products, usually 4 nail polishes and a nail tool. All products are from high end brands and you definitely get your money's worth. When I opened this month's box I was in shock because there was a full sized bottle of Seche Vite, and we all know how expensive it is! I really do believe that you get brilliant value for money with these boxes and if you like a surprise it's definitely worth signing up. You can do so here. If you want to just sign up for a one-off box it's £15, which is a great deal. And it's slightly cheaper if you sign up on a monthly pre-pay basis.  I decided to once again create some nail art with the polishes I received as I thought they worked really well together. 

OPI Hawaii Collection Swirls Nail Art

Hey everyone! I promised you a review of the OPI Hawaii collection* a couple of weeks ago but I just haven't had time to edit the pictures with revision, so in the mean time I've got some nail art using my favourite three polishes from the collection. It's nothing complicated but I like the abstract look it creates. All I used for these was OPI - That's Hularious*, OPI - Is Mai Tai Crooked?*, OPI - Do You Take Lei Away?* and a striping brush, they only took me 5 minutes and I liked the end result. I think maybe if I was to try them again I'd add white, but who knows!

Orange Checkers/Gingham

Hey everyone! I couldn't really decide what to call this post as I'm not sure whether these really are gingham or not. With my previous gingham designs (see here and here) the white has always been the base colour. Here, however, the orange is the base colour so I'm not sure if it's just a checkered design or if it can still be classed as gingham, you'll have to let me know! This design came about because I realised that Barry M - Cotton* is incredibly opaque for nail art, so when using it for stripes it doesn't go blotchy, which is an issue I normally have when striping with white. All the lines created with this are solid, and it made it easier to do these.

Orange Pastel Paisley with River Island

Hey everyone! Today I have something a little different to show you. I've come together with River Island to do some nails based on their new Spring/Summer pastel collections. It's been a while since I tried any paisley. I wish that I'd done the detailing in a lighter colour to keep with the pastel theme, but at the same time I like how they came out. My inspiration for these nails and information on how to create them is after the jump!

Tutorial Tuesday: Mod Flowers for Avon

Hey everyone! I had such a lovely weekend away, me and my boyfriend went to Chester for the weekend and went to the zoo. Not everyone's ideal weekend but perfect for us, I'm sad to have to come back and accept that the next few weeks are just going to be a slog of dissertation work. I'm on the final push now, despite a mini-breakdown last week, so fingers crossed that it all goes to plan. Today's nails are these simple mod flowers. I've been surprised at how many comments I've got on these in the past couple of days of wearing them, I didn't think they were that interesting but it appears that they stand out a lot more than I thought! I've also done a tutorial for you all so you can create these yourself